yoeddynz

Cheers for that info Yammies. Makes sense. They were assembled here from kits though right? Like all the other models. Torrie- you obviously have forgotten the wonderful powers of the mighty big block 1256!

So this arrived this evening.... It was looking sad and needing to be rescued. No one had offered to take it on with the intention to save it. I just couldn't see this get crushed or split down for bits. I had to save it. I couldn't afford monies but have some time so I'm swapping it for some future welding work. I like the colour (its Monaco Green since you asked...) Not too different to the HB wagon... The fella I bought my Viva wagon off a few years back heard about this car from me and is quite keen on doing it up for his son. But now I , well actually Hannah too as shes partial to a Chevette or two, have become quite excited about seeing it back onto the road ourselves. We couldn't resist. Just look at it. Its fantastic! That colour with that stripe and the added layer of patina. So this is the basic plan... Weld up the few patches of rot. Maybe pop out the worst dents. See if the engine is OK. I have no idea on its condition at all but it does turn over. Fit some better tyres. Put it through a re-vin. Drive it a while and collect some terrible music to play on the original Sanyo tape deck. Take photos of it next to the Viva and become 'that local bloke who has two shitty old Vauxhall wagons' It'll be the 6th Chevette we have owned and the first Chevanne (wagon..) I now have far too many old cars kicking about to work on. 'Is now Gregs' Datsun 120Y is now first in line (I promise Greg..) then the Imp(s x3) and the Viva re-power of course. This Chevanne will just have to sneak in for little bits here and there. So many other local cars lined up on our white board for work too so I see a lot of car shuffling coming up. But for the carpets the interior is in great nick. Dash top superb. Great colour. Headlining is great. Useful sized boot area... There is a small issue of no keys though. We had to use the trolley jack to shift it into its current park. The structure is solid as. Arches are really good. Roof just surface rust. Dents are the main issue. Two rust holes on the floor and the usual Chevette rot under the battery. Windscreen seal melted by the sun. Interestingly (well to me...) its badged as a Chevanne. This is a wagon as far as I'm concerned with the Chevannes having paneled out rear side windows but nup... here in NZ they were all badged and sold as Chevannes. Also interesting... the attached rego plates come up as a 1974 VIva wagon. Hmmmmm? Oh well. It'll all be new plates soon with a new lease on life. Not planning on keeping it much beyond having some fun. Just doing my bit in a noble sort of way to rescue a fine and pretty rare classic car.

I think there's a chain in there somewhere...a driveshaft that runs back from the clutch through to the box behind.

Ha- I discovered this too when I went to pick up some por15 from my local. They have now been selling this stuff called 'miracle paint' which is basically the exact same stuff as Por15.. http://www.hirschauto.com/Miracle-Paint-Rust-Killer/products/3/ Hey are those seats from a Honda prelude? I used some like them in my first Chevette way way back in 1994. Nice and comfy.

Funny you should post that up Joe...I was just reading about it this morning. What a little weapon.. http://www.imps4ever.info/specials/v8/feck.html

nice...but 3 cylinders too little...

Not really a fan of V8 engines... certainly not after having heard the flat six Really keen on keeping the layout rear engined so long as the weight stays around the same.

I liked it twice! What does loop charged mean?

As much as I love the sound of a nice V6... I really fancy that baby Porsche flat 6 sound in an Imp I still have several V6 engines kicking about too.. but for future project ideas/paper weights. You have certainly got me curious though.... I wonder if people have used such engines to repower little cars. I think most decent outboards command big money dont they?

Weeeeeeeee... I like all these suggestions. I'll be opening up the old transaxle and swapping the bellhousing over to the new box so whilst there it would be rude not to check out if the diff flips over etc. Otherwise I do have an idea. The flat six actually has a few options, idler gears, sprockets, cogs and toothy things hanging out the back that I can muck about with.

So as some of you might have noticed in another thread I started over in the dark side of the bike section..I have been having sweet dreams about a future Imp project involving a Honda Goldwing Flat six... For that flat six growl ! Create a Imp 911. Hillman 911? Anyway.. I have spent a fair proportion of good sleeping time recently laying awake going through ideas on how and looking through drawings on a workshop manual I downloaded. It had it all worked out this morning. Worked out how to deal with the oil pump drive, create a Flywheel hub, deal with the alternator and water pump issues etc etc. It was looking good. But then a fella goes by the name of Darkspeed on Retrorides, who's been into Imps for a fair while and had once investigated the same engine, quipped in... "I think they might be counterclockers" Yes. Dammit. He is correct. After all those late night/ early morning ponderings I failed to spot which side of the belts the cam belt tensioners were on... So yeah. Back to the drawing board. Which could mean using the stock transmission and cobble together a neat little diff. The output is offset though. But diff could be offset a little and then extend one axle drive outwards, supported to suit. So long as the uni/Cv joints are in line with the stock position it'll be fine. A sequential shift. Hmmm. Plus some later Goldwings have a electric reverse (how much it can deal with I dont know though) Anyway.. this idea is ways off so back to welding. Oh and also...look who came through and stayed the night on their Tour of love to Nats down south. Fun times were had that night! Very chilled. They all took a quite shine to the alluring beauty of an Imp... Hopefully I will see more Imps turn up on Oldschool in the future

You mean aware? Yeah I've seen a few pics of people doing as such and I'll definitely do the same.. It seems worth it for the sake of a few squirts of welding eh

Cheers man. I enjoy doing updates as it seems to act as a way of keeping me motivated

I managed to do a bit more on this in between stripping a Datsun 120Y down and property jobs continuing on from the cyclone mess. So where was I up to? Ahhhhh that's right. The arches... No. Hang on. That's the wrong photo. Not them. This.. So there was some rust I had cut out. Made a little fill in and using Nanas favourite butter knife I was able to keep it lined up for butt welding.. Grind off and move on.. So onto the offside rear corner. It was messy.. This fell out.. And the rest was cut out.. I started a the rebuild with a tricky inner bottom piece connecting the outer guard bottom to the chassis rail. Luckily it looked like this section is a mirror image of the other side. You can see it has many curves, bends and folds, as pointed out by Mr troll... So I copied it using folder, hammers, shrinker, pliers, hands.. Welded in. Instant strength again I then rebuilt the inside and started building the outer skin.. I've finished off the entire rear end but need to get some more photos. There were some rust bubbles around the arch which I cut out in sections in order to not lose the shape. I'll get more photos. I need to cover all the repairs in Epoxy primer before it starts flashing off in surface rust. Then move on to the floor. Yay. Lots of rust. But I have a rough plan on how to tackle it. Feeling happy with it all now its a lot more solid

Still whittling away at the rust. However, for a break from looking at rusty Imps here is a link to an old Rootes Group promotional film made for the launch of the Imp. Some really good factory footage with some great machine shots. Yeah... watching this last night really made me want to sort my Imp (s) out so I can drive the thing! http://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0085

Its certainly the only 99 I have seen in NZ (well.. the south island...)

Its been an intention for a while but there's so many other things I want to build before hand. I'd love some rollers too. And an English wheel while I'm there. Plus a mechanical planisher. But actually id rather be building other stuff instead of rust repairs. It's fun but pretty nasty dirty work. But pays the bills right now.

Wow. What a score. I hope I'm not the only one here who thinks this... Please don't paint that! It looks so sweet. I'd happily chuff/chugg about in that all day long winding up the rozz. "Yes sir..its fully legal! " Gonna follow this one with interest

Oh yeah totally know what you mean. An old car resto is a proper job if it aint got a few hedgehogs on the back of the repairs. I sometimes end up laughing so hard in my helmet as I chase a hole in the thin stuff. It almost becomes a challenge... "fuck you little hole... I'm going to defeat you! You ain't getting away on me.. I am not going to just do the right thing and chop this area out. I'm just gonna keep zapping away..! "

Yeah its tricky alright eh. But a grinder will be our our best friend The newer invertor type mig welder I bought a few years ago works much sweeter for 'zapping' too. I try to concentrate the zap onto the thicker steel and then do a little push towards the thin original steel as I release the trigger..if you can picture what I mean.

I sneaked a little bit more time on this last night (well I didn't really sneak out to the shed.. I just worked till late) I have taken a few extra photos this time to show how I went about what is a fairly awkward bit to fabricate. So here's the corner to repair... Measured up to work out a size of steel needed. Add a bit extra because with the slight compound curve the shrinker will tease the steel and it'll end up smaller in other areas too... (hard to explain what I mean.. but yeah.. just cut a bit larger than you need) I rolled my little folder out and in several small bends curved the edge up. The bend downwards of this corner has a 5mm or so radius... but not all the way round as it actually blends back in to the guard. Then into the shrinker.. Then compare to original section. Its not a simple curve and has to be carefully manipulated by hand to get just right. Cut, try, cut, try, cut.. until it just fits in neatly. Because its nice new thick steel and the area its getting welded into is good steel I don't mind a tiny gap. As I weld it the weld will sink in between rather than sitting out too far. Plenty of heat in short zaps. Meld it into one.. weld on, grind off, weld on, grind off....ahhhh grasshopper. Then the little finishing off bit underneath. A slight compound curve in itself but can be just bent to fit by hand... Then fused in place.. ready for grinding (the boring bit..) I have now started on the other side rear corner. Much worse inside as the battery box area was rotten. I'm not going to bother trying to make it all original like in there because there wont be a battery there. But maybe I'll make a handy space out of it. Maybe a box or something to take spare engine oil, some basic tools etc. I'll see. For now I just need to make it solid again

Needs more modgies/slotmags/turbos/insert most classic cheviot mags and less jap style wheels.

That 2LT would be handy for making our van into even more of a 'head on' death trap than it already is!

Ldt28 imp? Wow With tow bar.